Batten down the hatches.....

The weather outside is frightful.....

We lost the feed shed roof this time, luckily it wasn't full of feed else that would have caused a panic. We lost power for most of Thursday so no phones, internet browsing, sewing, quilting, ironing or hoovering but I had the Aga that day so was lovely and toasty in my kitchen. I did a bit of kitchen cleaning and before dark pulled out wind up torches, oil lamps and 'fourcandles', that entertained the Grandkids when they came over for dinner. The mince and tatties in the Aga was just ready as the the power came back on, then it's soon all forgotten. Different problem next day when the Aga decided to go on strike and refused to stay a lite so it's been a bit chilly over the weekend hopefully tomorrow the Aga Engineer will short it out?

I had some quilts picked up/delivered and am now on a countdown hoping to have all customer quilts finished by the end of this week.

I had a new customer bring this French Braid table runner in Christmas fabrics.  Although Olga said she wasn't in any hurry for it I quilted it with holly leaves and wreaths ready for her to pick up before Christmas.

These hexagons were rescued, up-cycled and loving stitched into this 'flower garden' design and appliqued onto a striking dark navy background. The Primrose panto replicates the shape of the hexagons. This quilt will be raffled to raise money for Church windows over in Selkirk.

I was thrilled and honoured that my quilt 'Inner Circle Flower of Scotland won Best of Show at The West Country Quilt Show in Somerset, UK

I wasn't sure that my Scottish themed quilt would be well received down in the south of England so I really appreciated that it arrived home with rosettes for Best in Show, Best Surface Embellishment, Best Large Wallhanging and Visitors Choice (sponsored by Lady Sew and Sew with a lovely Kaffe Fassett book and jelly roll).

I was also told to expect delivery direct from the show sponsors of a Janome sewing machine sometime soon......lovely, Thank you so much......

For Ani.....

My very good friend Ani is feeling a little under the weather just now....flu and colds are not much fun....I'm feeling a bit under the weather too....but it's the real weather affecting us today....

Do you know this man...if you see him do not approach him......lol.....the radio says the roads are blocked and drifting but I'm tucked up nice and warm here in my Farmhouse unlike my DH who has to venture out no matter what the weather.......I can hear the hum of the tractors and farm bikes making sure all the animals are fed and safe, wish I had my camera two minutes ago to show you the horses galloping about playing in the snow....as long as they are fed they love it!

Is this cheating?

 

They are having fun but that's not the only way to enjoy the snow!!

Snow Dying....

Seems like a long while ago now but before Christmas we had some snow, just a little. I had been intending to try out Kathy's tips and techniques for snow dying.  Well, what do you know, leading up to Christmas was a busy time?
I decided in the afternoon to collect a couple of buckets of snow ready for later in the day when I might have more time to follow through.  The snow was actually ice and I had to scrape it from the grass but I did manage to collect two buckets full which I left outside until later. I left my fabric soaking in the soda ash solution.
So, the intention is to pour the dye over the snow, the temperature of the snow slows down the dying process allowing the dye to break down into it's various mix of colours and grab to the fabric at different rates giving texture to the fabric.

By the time I was ready to proceed my snow/ice had frozen into one big ice cube, as I had already mixed my dyes all I could do was tip the ice out on top of my fabric and add my dye, the ice just sat there on top of the fabric in a big hunk!
My PFD (prepared for dying) fabric is 60" wide so I had nearly 2 yards on each tray.
I used Procion MX dyes.

Tray 1....
1 tsp currant + 1/2 tsp sodium sulphate + 1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp purple + 1/2 tsp sodium  sulphate+ 1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp cerulean blue + 1/2 tsp sodium sulphate + 1/2 cup water
I placed this fabric on a refridgerator shelt over a deep tray.

Tray 2...
1 tsp avacado + 1 tsp sodium sulphate + 1 cup water
1 tsp turquoise +1 tsp sodium sulphate + 1 cup water
This fabric was place in an open basket from a vegetable trolley over another deep tray.

You can see the extra vegetable matter collected when I had to scrape the ice from the grass....

So,  as this was around 9pm at night all I could do was leave everything here in my utility room overnight and hope that there would be no avalanch before morning and all dye solution would stay either in the trays or drain off into the sink.

I need not have worried as by morning I still had big chunks of ice but there had been some migration of dye down through the fabric....who knew my utility room was so cold through the night? So I moved my fabric through into my kitchen where it was warmer and left it there for 2/3 hours to allow the ice to melt and the fabric to warm through hoping that the colours would set.

After a good rinse until the water ran clear and then a quick wash in the machine with Retayne, here are my results.  Although not a controlled scientific experiment the results are quite interesting, I was trying to use enough dye to make sure it soaked through all of the 2 yards of fabric in each tray.  The avacado/turquoise mix is more subtle but with lots of texture.....

The currant/purple mix is more dramatic with quite a bit of solid colour (wonder whether that's the currant or the purple, I'm thinking it's the currant) but lots of interesting ice textures, there is really no white on that piece it's more pink in colour but very interesting all the same.

There didn't seem to be any difference/marks left from using the open shelf or the basket and as the dye didn't dye the veg basket maybe next time I'll try two baskets instead.
That same day the snow/ice outside thawed and we have had no more snow falls since but watch this space, now that I have a little system in place I will be having another try to see how this works with proper snow with a quicker melt time?

We are building a boat?

Two days ago these fields were under six inches of snow and it was difficult to travel into town....90 mile an hour winds along with torrential rain and a fast thaw mean the fields are now flooded along with my utility room...hey ho!

Its bright here in Scotland.....

We are having some wonderfully unseasonal weather here in Scotland, radio stations reported 27C yesterday and I saw shirtless teenagers in town...well, that was just the boys!

Today is 1st of October and offically autumn so it's craft season, I was rumaging around and came across these 'friendship star international swap' blocks.... remember my two sets.....

They went of to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and this is what I received back....

 I've arranged them on my design wall, they still need a bit of a shuffle but can stay there a little longer reminding me of summer we never had while I play with this....

Those are Paula Nadelstern stack and wack kaleidoscopes on black background...lots of quilting real estate, I'm enjoying this one!

The Big One!

The Hawick Common-Riding is the first of the Border festivals and celebrates both the capture of an English Flag in 1514 by the youth of Hawick at a place called Hornshole and the ancient custom of riding the marches or boundaries of the common land.

The Cornet for the year is elected at the beginning of May, well in advance of the festival proper, when the Provost's Council, on the recommendation of the two previous Cornets (called the Right and Left-Hand Men) invites a young man to act as Cornet. The Halberdier, accompanied by the Drum and Fife Band, carries an official letter of invitation to the nominated Cornet.

In the weeks preceding the actual Common-Riding, on each Saturday and Tuesday, the Cornet and his supporters are out on their ride-outs in the course of which they visit surrounding villages and farms.  Last Tuesday the 'ride out' went to Priesthaugh Farm but the main ride-out, usually two weeks before the Common-Riding weekend, is the twenty-four mile ride to Mosspaul and back.  This is a big ride...over rough terrain..up hills, down valleys and through forests out into the Borderland hills where the weather usually does it's worst....the weather forecast was not good and after last weeks drenching it was a tough decision weather to ride or not as the weather at home that morning was a little rough to say the least!

But we got everything ready and made the decision at 10.45 to load up the horses and off we all went...

Here they are ready to go muster at Backdamgate for a 12.00 start......

Here's Kyle and his Granda heading off up The Loan...ten minutes later there was a really rough hailstone storm.....agghhhh!

This is the first gallop of this ride at Pilmuir...can be a bit tricky but luckily there were only two fallers....hopefully no serious injuries....horse riding is a very high risk sport especially when riding small ponies in among these big horses...Kyle is lucky to have the support of his Dad and Granda!

At the Binks....photo by Fieron

Kyle arriving with his Dad at Mosspaul......photo by Fieron

Kyle was lucky to have a hauder (holder) booked for his pony.....

We picked a good place for a snack....

Time to go back to Hawick.....

What a great photo!

This one photograph makes all of the worry worthwhile!

Sorry didn't mean to leave anyone out...flat battery!

Arriving back in Hawick at 8.15 pm...it's been a long hard day...


I'd like to thank everyone for viewing my photos, videos and blog over the past few weeks and for all of the emails and comments...it's great that everyone can share in this momentous occasion.....In previous years I have ridden this and the other Saturday rides.....it isn't always easy and the riders can hit many obstacles along the way..... Kyle has come so far over the past few weeks in his riding ability and confidence....Kyle you are our 'Hero'!

It turn out fowl????

The first half of Saturday's Ride Out was not too bad.....wind in their faces but on the whole dry weather

Here is the Cornet with his Right and Left Hand Men and the Acting Father just behind.....leaving Hawick at 12.30.

On the way to the next vantage point Fieron and I stopped by to take a photo of Echo and her foal Hailey.

We next saw the horses on the very top of our own hill at The Heights at Alemoor...then on to Philhope Bridge.

 

It was blustery arriving at Philhope Bridge at 3.30.....Photo by Fieron

But by the time the riders left it was a different matter.

But Kyle kept on smiling!

Arriving back in town at around 8pm ...still raining!

That was a hard ride of around 24 miles...it rained all the way home, less than half of the riders arrived back in Hawick....so well done Kyle!

What a difference a day makes!

Only 24 hours.......

This is where I live.....

Yesterday......

 And then today......

Back to dark, gray, dreik winter days!